Unraveling the Past (Second in the Reborn Series)
by Jazzlover05
Summary: It's been two years since the battle of mission city and Sam is off to college while Terra is off to help the Autobots and spending time with her sparkmate, Jazz. Everything seems to be fairly normal, until a mission in Shanghai changes everything. Now time is of the essance as Terra makes a choice between her life and her family. (Long Sum on Profile)
1. Prologue

**Ok, so here is the prologue. A bit of rushed work but I wanted to get it done.**

**Here's the first part of the Second Part of the Reborn Series.**

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><p><strong>Prologue<strong>

**_Earth…Birth place of the human race…my race. We are species that are capable of great compassion…_**

_A young girl with brown hair whined in her sleep, trapped in the throes of a nightmare. She murmured unintelligible sounds in her sleep, but they were filled with terror._

_Within this girls nightmares she was trapped in a never-ending nightmare of death and fear and sorrow._

**_….and great violence. Until recently, our race believed us to be the only sentient beings in the galaxy… until metal robotic beings known as Autobots fell to Earth, searching for a long lost and powerful object known as the All Spark._**

**_But they were not the only ones searching for the cube. Powerful enemies known as the Decepticons also sought the power of the cube so they could take over the universe. _**

_Flashes of the battle of Mission city fell into the girls dream. She whined, throwing her blankets to the ground in her thrashing. Her heart pounded in her chest._

**_In the end, their search ended in failure. The All Spark was too powerful and had to be destroyed…_**

_Symbols and voices echoed all around the girl in her dreams, making her confusion and terror grow. She wanted to wake up, to get away from the terrible visions._

**_But not all was lost. The Autobots found a home among my people and formed an Alliance known as NEST, which was a section of special OPs that had Autobots and humans working together to combat the Decepticons army._**

**_And for a few years, things were peaceful besides the few Decepticon attacks. The Autobots have been settling in well on Earth…besides the few mishaps…_**

_"IRONHIDE, WHY IS MY BACK YARD TRASHED!" Sarah Lennox yelled, looking at the destruction before her. _

**_Yeah…those were bound to happen…but besides those everything seemed to have calmed down._**

**_My relationship with the Autobots and the soldiers of NEST has only improve over these years. Ratchet had taken me on as his assistant medical officer, much to the displeasure of a few higher ups, but I basically had diplomatic immunity, so they could not do much to me._**

**_The other Autobots had become extremely busy and I could not stay on base all the time so I only saw them a few time a month. Soundbyte was the exception to this. He contacted me every day._**

**_And of course there was Jazz and Bumblebee. They were constantly with us. Bumblebee and my brothers connection had only grown stronger over the past two years and as a result so had mine and Bumblebees._**

**_Jazz and I, however…have hit a snag…_**

_The brown haired girl moaned in despair as she watched her loved ones systematically murdered before her eyes by the monster who had haunted her every step since childhood, only the monster had red eyes now and changed from a knife wielding maniac and into a metallic war lord._

_"NO!" She screamed, watching her sparkmate's spark get torn out. "JAZZ!"_

**_Our relationship hadn't progressed and it was not for a lack of trying. It wasn't even Jazz, it was me. My feelings were still swinging back and forth between loving him as a lover and that of a best friend. I didn't understand why it was happening either and I was frustrated beyond belief._**

**_Besides these things life has been progressing and peace has continued._**

_The holoform of Jazz suddenly materialized in the girls room, his eyes scanning the room before landing on his sparkmate and quickly began shaking her awake._

_"Terra. Terra. Swee'park." He called._

**_Unfortunately, this was not to last. Fate always calls when we least expect it or when we least want it too. And my fate, along my brothers, was calling me, even if I didn't want it to. And the Autobots were right in the thick of it._**

_"SAM RUN!" Terra screamed as an echoing boom filled the air._

**_In the Autobots quest to protect us, a deeper revelation was revealed._**

_The girl gasped in shock, sitting up and shaking, tears in her eyes. Terra snapped her head to Jazz and cried softly, leaning against his chest as he calmed her terror and pain._

_"Sh. Sh. Baba gi'l." Jazz soothed._

**_Our Worlds had met before…_**

_"Jazz, Jazz…oh Jazz." Terra cried, clenching his shirt. _

**_A terrible secret erased from history…sometimes…the past is better left buried._**

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><p><strong>Give me a review and tell me how you like it people.<strong>


	2. Chapter 1: Diego Garcia

**Ok people, you've all waited patiently and here it is. The first true chapter. Revenge of the fallen here we come!**

**READY**

**SET**

**GO PEOPLE!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own transformers.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: Diego Garcia<strong>

You would think two years would pass by slowly, nope. For me and my family two years flew by us like a week and before any of us knew it, Sam, Mikaela and I were graduating high school and preparing for our lives in the real world. It was so strange to think about…I was an adult now. In this life time I had made it past my 17 birthday…and to think I nearly didn't because of an Ancient robot war coming to Earth.

Oh, you don't know about that? The you obviously have not been around for the last two years. Insanity doesn't even begin to cover it.

So here's a short rundown. Alien robots known as Cybertronians crashed here on Earth looking for cube known as the All Spark, which was what brought life to their planet. But of course, like any amazing story there has to be some conflict, right? Right, so the Cybertronians I mentioned, yeah, they're split into two factions. The Autobots…or good guys and the Decepticons…or bad guys.

So, heir bringer of Death, aka Megatron, wanted to use the All Spark to turn Earths technology in a robot army and take over the universe. Of course, the epic good guys, the Autobots, said no way and their leader Optimus Prime fought to protect humanity and all that. In the end the cube was destroyed and an alliance was made with them to continue to fight the Decepticon army.

Now, you may be wondering, how do I fit into this? I bought a car…turned out to be an alien robot… oh and my grandfather's glasses held the key to earths survival because they had a map to the All Spark... yep…pure chaos I know.

That's basically a summary of my life for the past two years. Chaos! That simple word wrapped it up nicely with a perfect little bow.

But I digress. Let's focus on the here and now. My life, despite the chaos of being involved with alien beings, had been great. I've been learning all types of new things, I had wonderful children who I adored, dear friends, my family was great. Life was good…

Kind of. You remember that car I mention? Yeah, that cars name is Jazz, Lieutenant of the Autobots, Spy, and Saboteur. He turned out to be more than just my car. In human terms and on paper, he's my husband, but in Cybertronian terms he's my sparkmate. Basically, he's the spark that resonates with my soul or spark, depending on who you are.

Now don't get me wrong, I love Jazz…and that's the exact problem. I don't know how I love him. Now, I may sound whinny right now but damn if I'm not pissed about our relationships stagnation. I knew it was frustrating Jazz too, the whole bond thing allows for us to feel each other's emotions and communicate telepathically, but ever the patient bot that he is he refuses to push me on it and that just makes me feel even crappier.

Now you see what I mean about chaos?

"Terra baba gi'l ya in there?"

I was snapped out of my inner monologue by Jazz, who was currently driving me to the NEST base, Diego Garcia, which was a 9 hour flight and 2 hour drive by the way. It was foot print shaped island located in the British Indian Ocean Territory and of course was the base of the Autobots and Humans of NEST. Pretty cool right... not. I was so ready to get out of Jazz's alt mode.

We would be staying there for a week, Jazz had work, before going back home to see Sam off to College, he got into Princeton, my brother the awesome nerd, before moving permanently onto the base. Jazz was needed here and I was offered a spot on Ratchet's team, and I was not going to say no to, and Jazz could not be far from me for long periods of time.

According to Ratchet our bond was still fragile and he did not want unnecessary strain being put on either of us. So college for me was a no go…well not completely. I was going to take some online classes to see how it went but if the workload got too much I would have to drop them. I just didn't see the point in college anymore when I had more important things to worry about, like my family.

"Terra?" Jazz called again, snapping me from my thoughts once more.

"Ah sorry, I was lost in thought." I murmured. I felt confusion sprout up in Jazz.

"'ow can ya b' lost in yar thoughts? 'Ey are not tangible." Jazz asked.

I laughed. Sometimes I truly forgot how new the Autobots were to Earth customs, even Jazz who had been on Earth the longest. Of course he had been in stasis lock for the first ten years, or decacycle as the Autobots say, but was still learning all the ends and outs of human speech.

"It's a 'uman exp'ession, ain't it?" Jazz asked as soon as I laughed.

I smirked. "Good, Mr. Spy, you're learning."

Jazz vented softly before he began flipping through radio channels for some good music. Something you should know about Jazz, he appreciates music and culture to the point of obsession. I know, his entire music collection is stored in my room.

"Ah would 'ope so." He muttered.

"Mama, mama, are we dar yet?" A little voice asked.

I turned to look at my now two year old daughter, Rhapsody, who had grown some in the past two years. Of course it was hard to tell…considering she was a Cybertronian as well.

"Almost sparklet, almost." I paused, my eyes scanning the inside of Jazz's alt mode. "Where's your brother?"

Rhapsody smiled. "Trunk."

I sighed. "How did he get in the trunk?"

"Phased." She cried happily as Jazz laughed.

When I had named the mech Night Crawler I had no idea how accurate that name would become. Apparently Night Crawler had a Phase Drive, which allows for him to literally move through solid objects, just like the mutant Nightcrawler. He can literally get anywhere now and it's a heck of a time finding the bot when he decides to that.

Of course, the rest of my children had shown just how accurate their names could be as well.

Soundbyte really took control of Autobots communications with his apparent ability with finding and decoding transmissions, along with the ability to hack into any network he wanted in 0.2 seconds, I timed him once.

Soundbyte had also shown me his telekinesis and telepathy, which he had not told anyone about and I have kept it quiet. He was really shy about this ability. Apparently it is very similar to Soundwave and he doesn't want to compared to that Con.

And man did I have a field day with Ironhide when he told him about Soundwave and compared the two. Soundbyte was nothing like Soundwave and I'll be damned if I let anyone compare them. They have a few similarities yes, but Soundbyte is not Soundwave. I made sure to beat that into every bots processor.

Echostreak, of course being the big brother, wanted to go help Soundbyte out with the Communications department and became his sort of unofficial Lieutenant in all things Communications. Echostreak had spent a lot of time on base recently and I hadn't got to see my first child as much as I would have liked.

Rhapsody, bless her spark, really was a daddy's girl. She adored Jazz and always so attentive when he spoke of things, especially when it dealt with music. That little girl loved learning, of course she also adored Optimus, who I had learned was a data clerk (librarian) on Cybertron, and he loved to tell her stories as well. Jazz and Optimus had both worked in the Hall of Records, a really big library, and they were what you would consider learning fanatics. I blamed them entirely for Rhapsody's ever growing list of questions.

My children…honestly…

"Come on out Night Crawler, now…" I called to the back. Seconds later the air shimmered and Night Crawler came out from Jazz trunk, looking annoyed.

"Is there something you require, mother?" He asked in a very suave voice.

Night Crawler, out of all his siblings, tried to act older than he actually was and I had to admit he did have a very level head on his shoulders.

"Stay up front please. You know what I said about the phasing." I sighed.

Night Crawler glared at me but kept his mouth shut. He was never one to be disrespectful really but his silence could tell you a lot. And something Night Crawler hated were restrictions and I knew that but phasing was still dangerous for him. He was still a sparkling and if he got caught in a wall he would get hurt.

"Mama, mama, bruda in t'ouble?" Rhapsody asked, her voice almost that of a song.

I shook my head.

"Naw baba gi'l. Yar mama just worries is all. An Night Crawler…what did ah say about igno'in ya mothers ordas?" Jazz made it seem like he was scolding the youngling but I heard the tone of amusement.

"What mother doesn't know won't hurt her?" Night Crawler offered, sounding bored yet annoyed. I swear that little bot could do the impossible.

I raised an eyebrow as Jazz cursed softly over our bond. **_{What I don't know won't hurt me huh?}_**

**_{Uh…he's confused?}_** Jazz offered.

**_{Uh huh, and I'm secretly Megatron in disguise.}_** I said sarcastically, feeling my anger rise.

Jazz winced and sent my an apology but I waved it off. He knew how protective I was over the children and now he was doing who knows what with Night Crawler when I'm not around. What if something happens to him? What's next, teaching Rhapsody how to shoot a cannon?

I huffed. Ok so maybe I wasn't being completely fair. Jazz loved the children as much as I did. He was their father…or mech creator if you want to go Cyber, but damn it sometimes he makes me want to rip my hair out.

I opened my mouth—

"Oh look, we're here!" Jazz exclaimed, pulling into the hanger.

I could feel his relief. He knew he had just dodged a major bullet for now. I scowled. Lucky mech.

"Yeah, Daddy, Daddy, can we go see Opi!?" Rhapsody called, jumping up and down in her car seat.

I smiled softly at that. If there was one thing that could get me out of a mood it was Rhapsody. She was just too innocent and brought joy merely for existing.

I got out, Night Crawler attaching himself to my back as Jazz's holoform came to life and pulled his daughter out of his alt mode, smiling brightly at her as she squealed in shock.

I shook my head, ignoring them as I saw some familiar soldiers heading our way.

"My main boys, how ya doing!"

I hugged Epps first, who laughed and spun me around before passing me to Will. Said Colonel picked me up in a bear hug and squeezed me tight. I coughed, laughing a bit as Night Crawler clicked in protest at being squeezed.

"Good to have you on base again Terra. The men have missed ya and your wit." Will laughed as he let me go.

I grinned. "So they didn't miss my cooking?"

The last time I was here I was dared to make something for the new men. Of course, everyone here who had known me for any length of time knew my cooking was poisonous and should only be ingested if someone wanted to die.

I'm not kidding, I can't cook. I'm a builder, I fix things, I can reconfigure things but I cannot cook to save my life. Good thing my husband/sparkmate doesn't need to eat right.

Will and Epps paled, shaking their head. The unfortunate men had seen my cooking skills and it was not something they wanted repeated….ever…

"No, I'm fairly sure it's your wit." Epps said. "And your beauty too." He winked, teasing.

"Hey now, ya not fli'tin wit' ma sparkmate are ya soldier." Jazz asked, a lazy grin on his face.

Will snorted. "If he is you can just turn him into his wife. I'm sure she'd be more than happy to knock some since into him."

Jazz chuckled. "Ah'll take dat as good advice."

"HEY!" Epps protested.

I shook my head, honestly men…and mechs. Epps and Jazz decided to start teasing and threatening each other. Those two were good friends, a lot alike actually, but they loved to go at each other.

"So Will, how's base been since we've been gone?" I asked, sifting Night Crawlers into my arms.

Will frowned, rubbing the back of his head. A tell he never seemed to get rid of. Something bad had happened.

"Will…"

"It's not bad per say….well…ok it's bad. We finally got that liaison from Washington and frag Terra, he's worse than Simmons." And wasn't that just making a statement.

I frowned. "He can't be that bad, surely. Who is he anyways?"

"Theodore Galloway and Terra's he's that bad. You're lucky you showed up when you did. He's not here at the moment but slag Terra, he gets on Optimus's last circuit." And that just made a bigger one.

Optimus Prime had to be the Patron Saint of Patience, because he had it in spades. That mech could sit down and watch paint dry and not get bored he was that patient. If this guy could get on Optimus circuits…oh mech we were screwed.

**_~Frag it all.~_** I muttered in Iacon.

"Hey, hey. No foreign alien languages. I don't want Fig hearing you and start going on in Spanish!" Epps yelled over to me.

I rolled my eyes. "Certo. Qualunque sia il mio amico. Prometto di non parlare languges più stranieri." I said in somewhat shaky Italian. Hey, it wasn't alien.

That set Jazz and Will off as Epps groaned and looked darkly at me. I returned the look but couldn't hold it and began giggling quietly. Epps really did hate it when Fig went off in Spanish and it was so funny to watch him try to make Fig speak English.

I turned back to Will. "Anything else exciting happen?"

"Well…we got some new recruits…and I don't mean of the human verity." Will smiled a bit at this.

I grinned. Ever since Optimus had sent out his transmission a few Autobots had found their way to earth.

There was the Arcee triplets, who about gave me a heart attack when I first met them. I swear I had met them before, somewhere, but it was impossible…I think. Anyways, the Arcee triplets and I got on fairly well. I had a lot of respect for the femme who basically broke herself down to save two sparks from extinguishing. Ratchet had told me the story.

Short summary of it is Arcee saved the femmes known as Moonracer and Flareup, who had been badly damaged after being experimented on. Arcee was able to save their sparks by caring them half way across their planet in her own spark chamber until they got to a medical officer, Ratchet funnily enough, who said she would have to let the sparks go before they burned her out. But did Arcee do it, fuck no. She split her own body up and gave Moonracer and Flareup new bodies out of her own parts.

Ratchet said he had never seen or heard of anything like it and to date they were the only case. It was fascinating and I liked the femmes a lot. They were able to explain things to me that Ratchet honestly could not answer without completely going over my head, like the reason why they couldn't reproduce without the All Spark.

It wasn't so much they couldn't, it was just that the All Spark usually helped spark new sparks. I know that confused me too until Arcee told me that a Femmes had the capacity to create new sparks with a mech, not something well known apparently, but it took a lot of energy from the femme, who not only had to form the spark but also carry it. It was dangerous, thus the reason it was not often practiced. It usually killed the carrier involved when sparks were created like that.

But I've gotten off track. Anyways, besides the Arcee Triplets (Arcee, Moonracer, and Flareup), another new arrival was Jolt. He was the Medical Officer under Ratchet, who was expected to take over when Ratchet decided to 'retire', like he ever would. Mine and Jolt's relationship is a bit rocky. He doesn't particularly like me all that much. Not that he was rude, just really cold. I think he doesn't like the fact Ratchet took me on as an Assistant. Of course, it was a bit petty that he thought I was going after his job. I was a human. I wouldn't live more than a Vron, but I never told Jolt this. When he was ready to come around he would.

Then, there were the twins. Dear Primus in the Well they made me want to wrench them. Ratchet said he had the same urge with another set of twins and he explained twins seemed to be the bane of all medics. I had laughed at the time but now the struggle was real.

Skids and Mudflap… I would love to beat them in the head, I really would. They were loud, obnoxious, somewhat stupid…ok really stupid and they constantly fought! I mean, Sam and I didn't fight as much as they did and we fought all the time! I get a headache just thinking about them.

"Really, how many?" I asked, excited.

Will frowned here. "Well…it was three but…one didn't…."

He didn't need to finish. I knew what he was saying. Three had landed but one was offline. I closed my eyes a mourned for the member of the Autobots I would never get to meet.

"Who were da?" Jazz asked.

I could feel his sorrow over our bond and sent him my understanding and own sorrow. It was always a sad day to lose a comrade.

Will sighed. "One of them is known as Wheeljack, he's a wrecker/inventor apparently…though he blows more things up than he creates."

Jazz's eyes brightened at the mention of Wheeljack. Wheeljack was someone Jazz knew this mech personally, how did I know well Jazz tells me everything basically, and apparently he was a danger to everyone around him.

"Sounds like Jacky." Jazz laughed, shifting Rhapsody in his arms. She looked so bored with this talk, so did Night Crawler.

Epps snorted. "Yeah, well the guy is causing some trouble, we've already had to fix the walls and reinforce them, several times in the past month."

I smirked. "According to Jazz, there's boom proof and then there's Wheeljack proof—"

"An the'e ain't nothin' Wheeljack p'oof." Jazz finished for me.

"Great." Epps muttered.

"And the other two Will?" I asked.

Will sighed. "Twins, designations Sideswipes and—"

"Sunstreaker." I said immediately. I could feel Jazz's worry, his fear as he realized that only two mechs survived. And if Wheeljack was one of them…then that meant…

"Oh naw…which one—" Jazz began, his voice shaking somewhat.

"Sunstreaker." Will said grimly. "The other hasn't been…taking it to well."

I winced. Sunstreaker and Sideswipes were like I and Sam. The same person split into two bodies, with a bond and everything. The very thought of Sam dying crushed me. I could only imagine what Sideswipes was feeling right now. Pure agony if I had to guess.

I felt Jazz's sorrow and fear as he pulled Rhapsody closer to his chest, where a piece of his spark resided. Rhapsody looked at her father curiously as I watched and felt emotions play out inside him. His eyes behind his visor dimmed to a dull gray and a deep seeded guilt and sadness took him over. His face immediately went blank.

**_{Jazz…this isn't your fault…} _**I said.

Jazz frowned. **_{Terra…ah trained dose kids. When da came ta us da were a mess swee'park, a real mess. Ah was put in cha'ge of 'em and ah was expected ta train 'em and help 'em along the way. Ah failed 'em…badly….now Sideswipes is wit'out his bruda and ah can't imagine 'im livin' wit'out Sunny… da were like ya and Sam Terra…just like ya…} _**I felt so much sorrow coming from Jazz.

**_{You couldn't have done anything…} _**I protested and really he couldn't. He was here…saving Earth when Sunstreaker was likely offlined. I winced again when I felt Jazz's sorrow start to suddenly seep into anger.

"Hey, are you guys having one of your freaky silent chats? Cause ya know…we're right here. Kind of rude." Epps said.

I sighed and looked at Epps. "Any intel on how it happened?"

"Yeah, slagger named Shockwave hit him in the spark chamber. They were trying to get him to Ratchet but he could survive the gravity pull…he was dead before he hit the ground." Will reported.

Jazz snarled in my mind. The only reason he hadn't done so out loud was because he didn't want to scare Rhapsody. I sent him calming emotions and got annoyed when he brushed them off. Well fine, be angry then spy bot.

"Jazz, why don't you go hunt down Sideswipes." I said suddenly, feeling the wrath in him growing. It was starting to give me a headache. Jazz looked at me. "I'll take Rhapsody and Night Crawler to see their brothers and say hello to the other bots. You go help your student."

Jazz nodded, handing me Rhapsody, who was looking curiously at Jazz as his holoform flickered out and his alt mode shifted into his protoform. He stalked off, his footsteps forever silent.

"Mama…why was daddy mad?" She asked me.

I smiled sadly. "Daddy is upset because a dear student of his has gone away to the Well." I said simple.

Night Crawler huffed. "I don't understand mother. Why is father so angry? Can he not just bring this student back?"

I sighed. "It doesn't work like that Night Crawler." I whispered before looking up at Epps and Will.

They both had sadness in their eyes. They really cared for the Autobots and the fact Jazz was upset had set them off.

"Can you guys take me to my other children. I would like to see them." I said softly.

Will nodded and looked at Epps. "I have to get back to the kids. Can you take her?"

"Need you even ask, Lennox?" Epps laughed.

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><p><strong>IMPORTANT NOTE (READ): Now before people start spamming me about Sunstreakers death...I will tell you...he will show up again. I will not tell you how or why or when... but he will. Whether he's alive or not...you are just going to have to wait and see. I have a big idea of Sunstreaker and I'm not telling it. The only reason I'm even giving out this much is because I do not want spam in mail box.<strong>

**Continuing on: Next chapter might take a while. Finals are here and I need to study so yeah. Enjoy this and REVIEW PEOPLE! **


	3. Chapter 2: Things go boom

**Ok, so I have a request. Would anyone be willing to draw some scenes from my story!? Pretty please. I love to draw but I just don't have the time right now to do it. I use all my spare time writing this up. So if someone could and send it to me that would be so cool.**

**Alright, so on with the more important stuff. I know many of you are probably pissed about Sunstreaker, but I will restate! RESTATE! that he will be showing up again. Probably in the next chapter too. **

**Now moving on. I realized in my last saga I made a mistake with Soundbyte's alt mode. I have a list, a literal list, of all the autobots and the chosen vehicles I have for them. I made a slight mistake with the list because originally there was only supposed to be one sparkling to survive but I just couldn't kill off Soundbyte, Night Crawler, or Rhapsody, so originally they weren't on there but I had made character sheets for them and their chosen alt modes. So Soundbyte's actually alt mode is an Audi TT-S roadster. Just so everyone knows.**

_**^Kaonian^**_

_**~Iacon Dialect~**_

_**{Spark Bond}**_

**Now without further ado, on with the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: Things go boom<strong>

Epps had me laughing some by the time we got to the Communications department. The reason for it, he told me of Ironhide's first use of the holoform…and the spectacularly failure that ensued. Ironhide had sworn up and down he was never going to use it but apparently Annabelle, bless that sweet little blue eyed girl, had gotten him to do it. I was still laughing at the thought of him being tackled to the ground by a 3 year old.

"And here is the Communication department, as you well know." Epps grinned, opening the door for me. "After you my lady."

I rolled my eyes and had a teasing grin. "Why thank you kind sir." I shifted Rhapsody on my hip, Night Crawler was attached to my lower back.

It never ceased to amaze me how large the Communications room was, then again it had to allow for Autobot and human usage, but it was still huge. Numerous amounts of computers lining walls and desks were spread out across the room with at least 20 people currently running around and one man shouting out orders.

"Always chaos in here." I commented.

"Organized chaos though." Epps replied.

My eyes ended up scanning the room and finally landed on one of my sons. Soundbyte was hard to miss, considering how big he was and he was currently sitting in a large chair, his visor dim and cables attached to the main frame.

**_"Carrier!"_**

I was suddenly tackled by a tiny gray streak, which attached itself to my midsection and nearly sent my tumbling. I looked down and was not surprised to see my eldest youngling looking at me with bright blue optics. Epps was laughing behind me and Night Crawler was growling, glaring at Echostreak.

**_~So loud…~ _**Night Crawler grouched.

**_~Brother! I missed you!~ _**Rhapsody clicked happily, pulling her brother into her arms.

I grunted as my balanced was nearly thrown off again before I decided to just put the two down. As soon as I let them go they began talking quickly. Echostreak was explaining what he had been doing lately while Rhapsody fired off questions to her brother. It brought a smile to my face.

"You know, it's insane to know they're speaking another language like that." Epps commented, his head ping ponging between the two adamantly talking children. "I really wish I knew what they were saying…"

"Echostreak is talking about his time here." I replied calmly as Night Crawler crawled to my shoulder, his red and blue optic glaring at his siblings.

"And it's even stranger you know what they are saying." Epps pointed out, making me glare at him.

**_~Echostreak is annoying.~ _**Night Crawler muttered.

**_~Night, do not say that about your brother.~ _**I scolded.

Epps groaned. "I said no alien speak. Speak English woman, English."

I just shook my head and was about to reply when Epps was called over by the Head of Human Communications, Jacob Jamison, or JJ as he likes to be called. He gave me a look and I waved him off. I was more than able to get to my son on my own.

"Alright you two, let's go say hello to Soundbyte."

**(POV CHANGE JAZZ)**

Jazz was searching for his wayward student…his only student now. He winced at that thought. The fact Sunstreaker was offline sent his spark into a frenzy of anger and deep sorrow. That Sideswipe survived also made him feel great sorrow and some joy. He knew Sideswipe was likely in unimaginable pain. Losing a spark-split twin was a death sentence. It was the reason most twins didn't survive past younglinghood.

Jazz clenched his fists and locked his denta together. His student was dead and he wasn't there to protect him. Comparative to some of the bots Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were young, not much older than Bumblebee and now a young spark had been extinguished. A young spark he cared a great deal about.

In his searching he was stopped by Arcee, the actually Arcee, not her sisters. She had likely seen him wondering the halls, looking for something.

"Greetings Jazz. It's good to have you back on base. Where is your tiny sparkmate?" She asked with a smile.

Jazz sighed. He really was not in the mood for small talk. "Hello Arcee. Ah'm glad ta b' back too. And she's in the Communications centa at tha moment with the spa'klings." He answered, rubbing his visor.

"Are you well my friend?" Arcee asked worriedly.

Jazz shook his head. "No, no ah'm not. Ah jus' got the news 'bout…" His voice trailed off with a sharp click.

Arcee frowned, offlining her optics and bowing her head. "Yes…Sunstreaker…" She whispered. "You were their mentor correct?"

Jazz nodded mutely.

"The loss of such a good soldier is terrible." Arcee murmured.

"'E wasn' jus'ta soldier." Jazz snapped before wincing. "Apologizes Arcee Ah—"

Arcee held up a servo. "No, it was my fault. I worded it wrong, as the humans would say."

Jazz nodded. "Why wasn' ah info'med 'bout dar a'ival?"

Arcee shook her head, looking exasperated. "Prime did not wish to put such thoughts in your processor. Besides, you were already coming here. He decided to wait until you arrived."

"How long…"

Arcee looked away, pain flashing across her orbs. "Then you are looking for Sideswipe, correct?" Jazz just gave her a look, but she shook her head. He sighed. "He is currently in the med bay with his brother...s body."

Jazz took a sharp breath. "Thank you." He got out before hurrying to the med bay.

He should have guessed that. Sideswipe would not want to leave his brother…even if he wasn't there anymore.

Reaching the med bay was easy, it wasn't that far from where he had been. He opened the door and was greeted by Ratchet, who was working on something. The CMO looked up, annoyance in his eyes before he recognized Jazz and froze.

Jazz stared at his old friend and sighed. "Where are da 'Atchet…?" He asked.

Ratchet sighed and moved his eyes to a separate room in his med bay. The mech rubbed his optics, a tired look in his eyes.

"The back. Sideswipe is…I gave them some time alone." Ratchet whispered, sadness in his voice.

Jazz nodded and made to go back to the room but Ratchet made him pause.

"Jazz…it's not your fault mech." Ratchet said softly.

Jazz didn't acknowledge him after that, silently making his way into the room his two, now one, students resided. Once he opened the door he snuck in and shut quietly, taking in Sideswipe, was was just sitting desolately in a chair, looking at his brothers body on the spare berth.

Sideswipe was a fairly small mech, though he was larger than Jazz by a foot or so. He looked banged up, dents and scratches in his armor, his red paint chipped…well, what's left of his paint. His once royal blue optics were now a dull blue gray color. They had lost the spark of mischief that was always prevalent when you dealt with him.

Jazz observed all of this but he had already come to the conclusion he was in unimaginable pain. He hadn't moved when Jazz had come in. He looked like death warmed over…barely. Then, his optics moved to the gold mech on the table and felt agony rip through his spark.

If Sideswipe looked like death warmed over Sunstreaker looked even worse than that. His paint was nearly gone, his right arm was missing, his helm had a large dent in it, but worst of all was the huge, gaping hole that now sat where his spark once was. There was no light, no sign of life and Jazz could not help feeling the loss of his dear student.

He swallowed his sorrow, however, and numbed his emotion processor. His other student needed him at the moment and he needed a clear head.

"Sideswipe…" Jazz said, walking cautiously up to the once Gladiator mech.

He didn't respond., just sat there, staring at his twin blankly. Jazz couldn't blame him.

"Sideswipe…" He called again, this time at his side. Still nothing. "Side—"

"Jazz…." It was barely audible but it was something. Jazz frowned, letting his visor slide up so he could get a better look at the mech. Slowly, Sideswipe turned towards him, a look of loss all over his face. "Hello…Mentor…" He mumbled.

"Sideswipe…i's good ta see ya." He said softly, placing a servo on his shoulder plates. Sideswipe looked at it blankly.

"You as well…" He replied. "I'm sure Sunny would have been happy to—" He couldn't finish.

A pained, inhuman sound made its way from Sideswipe's voice box. His frame shook and Jazz felt his students agony, felt it as if it was his own. He took a sharp breath and squeezed his students shoulder, who seemed so close to falling apart right before him. No, he was falling apart.

"Ah'm so sorry kid. So sorry ah wasn' dar." Jazz choked out.

Coolant filled optics looked at Jazz, lost and alone. Sideswipe might have been an adult now but Jazz always remembered that spirited little youngling who tried to take off his head the first time they met. And right now, that youngling was broken. His spark was literally trying to tear itself apart because Sunstreaker was no longer there. It was searching for a bond that would never be found.

"I's ma fault Sides. Ah shou'da been dar, but ah wasn't." Jazz said.

Sideswipe stiffened suddenly, moving away from Jazz. He was looking at Jazz with all the confusion and pain that had been inside him since Sunstreaker went off to the Well of All Sparks. Jazz felt when Sideswipe's pain turned to anger. He had been waiting for it, for the mech to lash out. He was surprised he hadn't till now.

"Mute it." He snarled, his dual blades activating as his optics turned a bright red.

His gladiator programing was coming online. Jazz slid his visor back over his eyes, his senses becoming stronger as he waited for the once twin to attack.

"Are ya angry at ma Sides? Ah wasn' the'e ta protect ya both. Ah shou'da been but ah wasn'. Ah'll undastand if ya are." Jazz spoke in his most soothing and softest tone.

"I said, mute it you old fragger!" He roared, jumping towards Jazz, trying to hit him.

Jazz avoided the attack, slipping around the red mech. "Ah wasn' dar and ya bruda paid da price."

**_^Stop talking!^ _**Sideswipe yelled in Kaonian, swinging at Jazz again.

Jazz let Sideswipe hit him then. Luckily it was the flat of the blade so it only sent him skidding into Sunstreaker's berth. He grunted, wincing. He would feel that later.

**_^Sunny's gone an ah'm ta blame. Ah wasn' dar….Ah wasn' dar ta stop Shockwave.^ _**He replied.

Sideswipe snarled and grabbed Jazz by his chassis, his optics wild with rage. Jazz didn't even flinch away. Sideswipe had every reason to be angry with him. He was their mentor, their trainer, their friend, and in some instances their creater (Father). Their lives were his responsibility and now one of his students was dead and he done nothing to keep them safe.

Sideswipe frame shook, his optics flashing from red to blue. He was obviously struggling with something. Jazz waited, waited for his student to decide what he wanted. He was a patient mech after all.

Suddenly the red mech slumped against him, his fight gone and frame shaking. A spark wrenching wail made it to his audios and Jazz winced, his spark flaring in pain. He felt his sparkmate, through their bond, send worry and love to him but he closed off their bond. Terra didn't need to feel this. It was a pain he did not want her to have to experience again.

**_^I don't blame you…fragger…^ _**Sideswipes said through his wails. **_^I can't. It's my fault Sunny's d—dead. If I had just listened for once in my life…^ _**He choked on his sobs.

Jazz blinked, startled. Wait what?

**_^Sideswipe what—^_**

**_^I was the one who went after Shockwave!^ _**He admitted.**_ ^I did…(Sob)… everything you taught us… not to…. and Sunny paid the price. My spark split twin took the hit for me…^ _**He whined, burying his face into Jazz's chassis, where his spark was. **_^He…he wasn't supposed to die…he wasn't…I'm sorry…^_**

Jazz vented softly, pulling the mech closer to him. It was times like this that Jazz remembered exactly how young Sideswipe is and Sunstreaker was. They might have grown up fighting in the Pits of Kaon but they were still very young compared to most.

He wasn't surprised Sideswipe was blaming himself. He and Sideswipe were similar in a number of ways and it seemed they were similar in this too. Jazz rumbled his engines, trying to sooth the distressed youngling adult that was in his servos. His eyes moved to Sunstreaker and winced again. Shockwave had done a number on the mech…

**_^I'm sorry as well Sideswipe…so very sorry….^_** But it would never be enough.

**(POV CHANGE TERRA)**

Soundbyte was a secret prankster. Why am I saying this? Simple, the mech was hacking into the Pentagon constantly and purposely setting off their firewalls. Of course, he hadn't been caught…yet… but Washington was having a field day trying to keep him out. And he was doing it right under the nose of everyone in the room! It was just sad really, after the 32 time in the entire time I had been their he hacked passed another firewall and found something filed under Dark Side of the Moon before he purposely set off the firewall he just passed.

"Soundbyte…you're going to give someone an early death if you keep doing this…or the government is going to start thinking a Decepticon is trying to get in." I whispered to my son.

"Statement: Negative. Soundbyte: has set systems to human hacking abilities." He replied, his visor flashing a smiley face.

I chuckled, shaking my head. Echostreak clicked happily from Soundbyte's shoulder, a cable attached to his brother so he could help him find transmissions to hack.

"It can't be that entertaining. I mean you've been doing it for a while now."

_(Soundbyte: finds human reactions are amusing.) _Echo replied. Soundbyte nodded in agreement.

Night Crawler, who had disappeared, suddenly phased through his brother before becoming solid again. His optics blinking.

"That was weird…" Night Crawler commented.

"Night Crawler! What did I say about phasing?" I sighed.

Rhapsody was never this much trouble. She was content to sit beside me and listen to everything that was going on around her. I was fairly sure she was fascinated by all the activity around her.

Night Crawler glared. "Not too, but I really don't understand that rule." He grouched.

I rubbed the bridge of my nose as I swung him up into my arms, giving him a stern look.

"Hey Terra!" Epps called as he walked over to me.

I sighed again. I can't seem to reprimand anyone today without getting interrupted.

"Yes?" I asked.

"You hungry cause I was thinking of getting something from the Caf." He said.

My stomach answered for me before I could, letting out a loud growl. Epps laughed, eyes lighting up as he looked at me.

"Jeez, you keeping a bear in there?" He teased.

"No, that's my fifth child talking." I replied bluntly.

Epps choked on his laughter, eyes widening in disbelief as he stared at my flat stomach. I rolled my eyes and slapped him on the back of the head.

"HEY!" He cried in outrage.

"It's your own fault for believing me." I shook my head as I picked up Rhapsody. "Now come on, I would like to get something to eat." I looked at Soundbyte and Echostreak. "Do you two want to come?"

They looked at each other for a moment, a silent conversation between the two brothers before they looked back at me.

"Soundbyte: offers apology. Soundbyte: must continue to monitor communications." He said, moving his digit to lay on my vacant shoulder. "Soundbyte: does wish to see carrier later."

_(Echostreak:…offers apology…stay with…Soundbyte…watch transmissions.) _Echostreak said, imitating his younger brother.

I chuckled, shaking my head as Soundbyte frowned.

"Soundbyte: does not find that amusing." He said.

"Ok, let's go. I'm starving." Epps said, pulling me away from my kids.

"I'll see you guys later tonight." I called just as we left the Communications department.

"Hey…is it even possible for you to get pregnant? I mean…does he even have a—" Epps started suddenly, making me blush in shock.

"Epps! Little audios!" I interrupted, motioning to my youngest two.

"What? I'm curious. I mean, he's a giant alien robot…" He defended.

I sighed, shutting my eyes.

The thing you need to know about Cybertronians, they don't have genders as we define them, so they don't actually have such things as a penis or vagina. Their 'genders', for lack of a better term, is determined by their spark. Each spark is unique in its own way, having a different frequency and power output than another. There was no two sparks that had the same frequency, spark-split twins being the exception to the rule for they had, basically, the same spark.

However, despite their uniqueness there is always one ling of code that determines if a Cybertronian is a mech or a femme, or male or female, that all Cybertronians share.

For example, a femme will have a line of code that allows for them to only have a slighter frame, that is meant for speed. Their spark could not hold up the extra components that were in a mech body and thus a femme can never be a mech.

And it is the same for a mech. The string of code for a mech spark only allows for larger, somewhat bulkier frames because their spark puts out more energy that a femme body could handle.

So, because they don't have genders, as humans know them, they have no concept of straight, bisexual, or gay, until they came to earth. Ratchet was absolutely fascinated by it. Why? Because on Cybertron mechs could be with mechs and femmes with femmes. In fact, it was common practice for a first merging to be done by one of the same frame. You guys still following me?

With this in mind, the topic of sex, or merging as Cybertronian's call it, could be confusing for a human to understand. There are two types of ways that a Cybertronian can experience merging. The first and most impersonal way is to link up through their binder cables and sent out electrical pulses that stimulate a mech or femmes body. This is merely the merging of their bodies.

The other and much more intimate way is to spark merge. This only occurs with sparkmates, which are rare, or very close, personal lovers and friends. Spark merging is the most pleasurable experience a Cybertronian can experience because it is literally, and I know this from experience, mind blowing. It's not just sex, it gives a whole new meaning to the term "making love". It's literally baring ones soul to another and experiencing a pleasure out of this world.

Of course, from spark merging you can also bond. Spark bonding is reserved for those who are sparkmates and only sparkmates. It is the highest form of commitment as it binds two different sparks together, giving a piece of each spark to the other beings spark and opening up a deep bond. That's what I had with Jazz and once a Cybertronian spark bonds there is no reversing it. It's a serious thing, something that can take Vrons (83 human years) for two Cybertronians to take up.

Of course, if I tried to explain this to Epps it would probably go over his head. Not to say that he was stupid or anything but it almost went over my head and I thought I had heard everything. And I was not explaining Cybertronian sexuality to my children just yet.

"His holoform is, for all intense and purposes, a human male. However, I highly doubt Jazz can get me pregnant considering we haven't gotten that far yet." I muttered.

Epps stopped, gapping at me with disbelief.

"What?" I asked.

Epps was staring at me with the strangest look. "I don't fragging believe you."

"What?" I asked again.

He pointed to me, his eyes narrowed. "I've seen how you two act around each other. You're constantly flirting and teasing each other. There is no fucking way you have not had—" I gave him a look and he looked at the children, who were looking between us curiously. "Um…done _that _yet." He finished.

I huffed, shaking my head. "I'm not lying. I'm still…innocent. But I never said we didn't do things. Just… we never have gotten that far."

And it was true. Two years of being together and I still couldn't give myself to him the human way, which was just ridiculous. We spark merged almost every other week, which was way more intimate than sex was, but my human brain, despite knowing this, felt that intercourse was…something special and something I should not give up on a whim. And that just made me feel even more awful about the whole issue of my feelings for Jazz.

Damn it…

"Holy frag, you're serious." Epps shook his head.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Can you please not curse in front of my children." I grouched.

Epps just continued to stare at me in disbelief. "Well that explains the teasing and flirting. Man, the sexual tension must be ridiculous for you two."

"Epps…I will throw a wrench at you." I growled.

He held up his hands in defeat. "I'm done." He promised.

I was about to say something when I caught a peculiar scent. I sniffed, recognizing the scent but my mind refused to trigger the memory to remind me where I smelled it.

"Hey Epps." I muttered, reaching out and stopping the man. "Do you smell that?"

"Smell what?" He asked as he took a deep breath. He wrinkled his nose. "Yeah, it smells like—"

The hairs on the back of my neck suddenly stood on end and my nose finally triggered where I had smelled that scent before. It was from science class when Sam thought it would be a good idea to mix Nitric acid with Hydrogen Sulfide…and it was burning.

"Oh my Go—"

And then I heard a defining boom and everything went black.

* * *

><p><strong> Ok...I'm not going to lie. I cried when I wrote this chapter. It's very sad and yes, I left it at a cliffhager. Hate me...no not really. You're just going to have to wait until the next chapter to see what happens.<strong>

**Oh, and I can't remember who asked this but Yes, Knockout will be coming back with a bang.**

**Now REVIEW PEOPLE it feed my muse!**


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